The Chief Creative Officer at Young & Rubicam/Chicago still believes in the beauty and power of great storytelling in advertising. Which is no doubt why a new online video called "The Getaway" for Y&R client DieHard (the battery company) has proved such a huge success. And why the folks at DieHard have decided to give the video an airing on national television Thursday night during the NFL football game on the NFL Network.

"The Getaway" concerns a young man and woman who — with varying degrees of success — are desperately trying to escape from a bunch of attacking zombies. Their efforts are tracked — with great intensity — over the course of the minute-plus video, which has already attracted well over 1.5 million views online.

Thursday, of course, is Halloween. So "The Getaway's" zombie theme is a perfect match for the occasion — and a further reason for DieHard to run the video as a national TV spot.

In an interview, Cimino said he had no doubt the video's popularity stems in part from its strong storytelling roots. Indeed, "The Getaway" has an actual beginning, middle and an ending that cleverly connects all the scary stuff to a DieHard battery theme.

Cimino came to Y&R a year ago from DDB/Chicago, where he worked on that agency's McDonald's account. McDonald's, of course, is a company that grew big and famous and successful over the course of many decades — in part because of its portfolio of advertising, which has included many story-driven TV commercials.

Ever the optimist, Cimino believes storytelling will never disappear from advertising, though he concedes it is under pressure on many fronts as advertisers instead focus intently on how effective advertising is at driving sales.

As for the popularity of "The Getaway," Cimino also conceded it might have something to do with the huge interest in zombies among the mass population at the moment. "My son is a huge fan of 'The Walking Dead'," noted Cimino, referring to popular flesh-eating zombies TV series on AMC.